For sentences in the active voice, the subject performs the action; for those in the passive voice, the subject receives the action. Most grammarians recommend using the active voice whenever possible. Here are some examples to help you distinguish between the voices:
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Active And Passive Voice Exercises for Class 10 With Answers CBSE Pdf
Look at these sentences:
Examples:
- The hunter killed the tiger.
- The tiger was killed by the hunter.
Meaning is the same in both the sentences but in the first sentence, the subject is the doer, he is doing something, hence the subject is active and the verb is in the Active Voice. We use active voice to say what the subject does.
Examples:
- I read the book.
- Tulsidas wrote the Ramayana.
Verb in the Active Voice always takes an object after it.
Passive: A verb in the passive takes the object or person affected by the action as its subject. Passive verbs are formed by placing a form of the helping verb ‘be’ in front of the past participle. When we use the passive, who or what causes the action is often ignored or considered unimportant. When we want to say who caused the action we use ‘by’, as is given in the third sentence of the passive.
i.e. the third form of the verb. We use passive voice to say what happens to the subject.
Examples:
- Several people were injured.
- He was hit by a train.
‘be’ verb +III form of the verb = Passive Construction (Past participle)
A verb is in the Active Voice when the person or thing denoted by the Subject is the doer of the action (i.e. when the subject acts or is active). A verb is in the Passive Voice when the person or thing denoted by the Subject is the receiver of the action (i.e. when the subject is Passive or is acted upon).
Example:
- The grocer sells sugar. (Active)
- Sugar is sold by the grocer. (Passive)
Forms of passive
The passive voice is not a tense itself. But for transitive verbs, each tense, as well as other verb forms such as infinitives and participles, can be produced in the passive voice. Some of the more complicated tenses (mostly perfect continuous) are rarely used in the passive, but they are possible.
Here are some examples of passive voice with many of the possible forms using the verb sing:
| infinitive | to be sung | ||
| perfect infinitive | to have been sung | ||
| participle | sung | ||
| perfect participle | having been sung | ||
| gerund | being sung | ||
| Simple | Continuous | Perfect | |
| Present | am, are, is sung | am, are, is being sung | have, has been sung |
| Past | was, were sung | was, were being sung | had been sung |
| Future | will be sung | will be being sung | will have been sung |
Active and Passive Examples
The table below shows examples of sentences in active and passive voice for the basic tenses as well as various other verb forms, including infinitives and participles.
| Active | Passive | |
| Present Simple | How does one pronounce his name? | How is his name pronounced? |
| Present Continuous | Ati’s helping Tara. | Tara’s being helped by Ati. |
| Present Perfect | The kid has served dinner. | Dinner has been served. |
| Past Simple | They didn’t fix my phone yesterday. | My phone wasn’t fixed yesterday. |
| Past Continuous | They were interrogating him when I called. | He was being interrogated when I called. |
| Past Perfect | I wondered why they hadn’t invited me. | I wondered why I hadn’t been invited. |
| Future Simple | They will hang him at dawn. | He will be hanged at dawn. |
| Future Continuous | They won’t be questioning him when you get there. | He won’t be being questioned when you get there. |
| Future Perfect | They will have repaired your car by 7 pm. | Your car will have been repaired by 7 pm. |
| Infinitive | I don’t want anyone to disturb me. | I don’t want to be disturbed. |
| Perfect infinitive | They seem to have taken it. | It seems to have been taken. |
| Participle | I saw the cat eating it. | I saw it being eaten by the cat. |
| Perfect participle | Having finished my work, I went home. | My work having been finished, I went home. |
| Gerund | I insisted on them paying me. | I insisted on being paid. |
| Going to | Is he going to sing Thriller at the party? | Is Thriller going to be sung at the party? |
| Used to | Ram used to take care of everything. | Everything used to be taken care of by Ram. |
| Can | They can question him for six hours. | He can be questioned for six hours. |
| Could | It could have badly hurt you. | You could have been badly hurt. |
| Way | The papers say they may release him. | The papers say he may be released. |
| Might | Somebody might buy it. | It might be bought. |
| Must | Passengers must wear seat belts. | Seat belts must be worn. |
| Should | You should have told me. | I should have been told. |
| Ought to | They ought to forgive him. | He ought to be forgiven. |
Passive Voice Examples Of Imperative Sentences
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| Shut the door. | Let the door be shut. |
| Post the letter at once. | Let the letter be posted at once. |
| Always speak the truth. | Let the truth always be spoken. |
| Do not starve the cow. | Let the cow not be starved. |
| Let him help his brother. | Let his brother be helped by him. |
| Clean your room. | Let your room be cleaned. |
| Learn your lesson. | Let your lesson be learnt. |
| Please do me a favour tonight. | You are requested to do me a favour tonight. |
| Get out of my house. | You are ordered to get out of my house. |
| Kindly do not smoke in a public places. | You are requested not to smoke in a public places. |
To make passive voice, we use the following rules.
1. Change the object into the subject. If as an object, we have a pronoun than we convert it as follows:
| Active | Passive |
| Me | I |
| You | You |
| Her | She |
| Them | They |
| Us | We |
| Him | He |
| It | It |
| Whom | Who |
2. Change the subject into an object. And use ‘by’ before the object. If as a subject, we have a pronoun of nominative then we convert it as follows:
| Active | Passive |
| I | by me |
| You | by you |
| She | by her |
| They | by them |
| We | by us |
| He | by him |
| It | by it |
| Who | by whom |
Active And Passive Voice Practice Exercises for Class 10 CBSE
A. Fill in the blanks using the most suitable passive form of the verbs given in brackets. The first one has been done for you.
- The television ____________ (repair). It’s working again now.
- The church tower ____________ (restore). The work is almost finished.
- ‘How old is the tower?’ ‘It ____________ (believe) to be over 600 years old.’
- If I didn’t do my job properly, I ____________ (would/sack).
- I learnt to swim when I was very young. I ____________ (teach) by my mother.
- After ____________ (arrest), I was taken to the police station.
B. Change the following sentences into Active Voice. The first one has been done for you.
- The ball was kicked by him. – He kicked the ball.
- The money has been stolen by him. – ____________________
- It will be done by us. – ____________________
- They were given some food by her. – ____________________
- He was written a letter by me. – ____________________
C. Change the Voice in the following sentences. The first one has been done for you.
- Who did the job? By whom was the job done?
- Are you eating a banana? __________________?
- Why are you washing the car? __________________?
- When will he give the money? __________________?
- Where will he meet you? __________________?
D. Change the following sentences into Passive Voice.
- Shut the door.
- When did they deliver the mail?
- The children were making a noise.
- They will not have done this work.
- Why are you wasting your time?
- We did not grow potatoes.
- Her uncle will look after her.
- Listen to his speech with attention.
- He hopes to pass this year.
- He will look into the matter.